Alright so today was the most awesomest, coolest, and bestest day of the trip so far. I´ve had a bit of wine this evening so please excuse my gramatical perfection. Today Mike and I slept in till about 10 and did absolutely nothing until 2, when we went on a tour of some bodegas. First, it started off a little shady as the lady informs us that the tyour is not in English, so hopefully we can pick it up. I say its no problem for me but for the diablo haired gringo (Mike) over there it might be an issue. She then proceeds to curse at him multiple times in spanish to which he just presents a blank stare and says to me, Yes, this might be a problem. Okay, well that didnt actually happen but she didnt speak English. So, first we went to this bodega called Don Arturo, which only exports its wines to the USA (yeah baby), more specifically somewhere in Kentucky. They gave us the grand tour, we got to eat grapes off the vine and the whole shebang. It was absolutely... What is the word Im looking for? Oh Yes

! Lovely. We got to try some of their wines which were from their 2004 vintage, but they were a little to young for my taste. However, we ended up buying a couple of bottles from them of an older vintage , which we plan to drink over the next few days. Next, we got back into the tour bus and went to an Olive oil factory. If heaven has a smell it smells like extra virgin olive oil in the making. I am pretty sure I´ve never smelt something so pleasing to the soul in my entire life. Needless to say they had to drag me out of there kicking and screaming, like I was a little kid on a McDonalds playground. ( That was for you Mom) After heaven, our next stop was Viņa el Cerno, another bodega that made some good wines. hey are more known around here, because they dont export everything if I remember correctly. We bought another bottle there for a bus ride or something in the near future. The bodegas in the area here produce like 80% of the worlds Malbecs, but they also produce Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, and Merlot. My favorites out of the area though are definately the Malbecs. I dunno, maybe its the fact that they are only 3 to 5 dollars a bottle, or maybe its the fact that they are dang tasty. Wait a minute, I think its actually a combination of both. Ha imagine that. Finally after we left this bodega we went to another place where they make Licours, some hard liquors, and sweets of various types. I learned that grapa is made form the skin of grapes via a simple distalation process. I also learned that chocolate licour could be very dangerous to my healt especially at 5 dollars a bottle. If I was ending my trip here in Mendoza I would buy birthday and christmas prestents for my friends and family for the next two years, and spend about 50 times less than I would in the states for the same stuff. So after the tour bus took us back home we went out for anothe fantastic meal, and then decided to come back open up a bottle of wine and play Rummi. Ahhhhh, some games are so much fun, and rummi has to be one of those classics. Especially if you are reminiscing about playing for three days straight on a train from Irkutsk to Moscow, but thats anothe can of worms we wont open here, because I have to go to sleep. We are getting up early tomorrow to head to the .... ( to be continued)